apologise

“I’m sorry …” Liandra said, but Kendra cut her off.
“Don’t be, it wasn’t your fault. You were being deceived by her. I’m just glad I could stop her before she went any further.”
Liandra ran up to Kendra and hugged her.
“This is the second time you saved me.”
“It’s fine, Liandra. I just did what I had to do.” Kendra said while she let her hand stroke Liandra’s hair. “For my oath as well as for my friend.”
Liandra eyes became watery and a tear ran over her cheek.

“Come now, I should be going to your father. I need to offer him my case about the drake attacks. You can join me if you like.”
Liandra was too emotional to give an answer. She just nodded.

When Liandra and Kendra arrived in the kings throne room, they noticed the place was rather empty. Just the king was there, staring out a window, accompanied by a few of his personal guard.
When the king noticed them entering the room he greeted them.
“Welcome, emissary from Nocternia. I hope you didn’t have too much trouble staying here?”
Liandra learned that her father was telling the truth. He was a good and noble king with a kind heart, she was glad her ring didn’t consider him a liar.
Kendra replied politely and confident.
“A few people sought to play pranks on me. But given the common misconceptions between Luxians and Nocternians, I had expected that.”
Kendra too spoke mostly the truth, tho there was a mall lie in there. Liandra thought maybe many people had troubled her instead of only a few.
“My apologies for that. You come in peace, but I am unable to give it to you.”
This troubled the princess. Her ring told her father lied. Was he then not sorry?
“As you can see, I have made this place as empty as I can to prevent backhanded talk.”
“Aggression floats on the smallest of breezes, good king. Peace struggles against hurricane winds. Your apologies are most welcome and accepted.”
Liandra was surprised at Kendra’s words of wisdom. She would have expected these from an elder, not from someone around her age.

Then the king turned to Liandra. “I see you have already met my daughter.”
“I have, sire. She is a very kind person.”
The king smiled.
“This gladdens me. The people of Luxius are very loyal to Liandra. If she is positive towards you, it will go a long way bringing both our peoples together.”
Again, Liandra’s ring warned her of a lie. Does her father dislike the Nocternians as well?
“Tell me, Liandra. What have you learned of the baroness.”
The princess up and to the right, trying to recall what she had learned.
“Well, the Nocternians are generally people, like us. But they have different believes in what is allowed and what is forbidden. Oh, and they also put a lot of value on their oaths.”
“Indeed they do.” Her father replied. “While we differ a lot from each other, I sometimes wish we were still one nation.”
This shocked Liandra the most. Not because it was a lie, but the pure truth. She either just learned her father either wished the Nocternian rebellion never happened, or that he could conquer them. Liandra was quite uneased by this.

“But enough small talk. What can I help you with, Lady Kendra?”
Kendra stoically presented her case.
“As you might have heard, drakes have been attacking your villages near our borders. If this continues, then the drakes will likely scour the place of any food supplies and will move on to … new pastures. These will likely be in Nocternian territory. Emperor Kendal does not wish to wait with dispatching these drakes until his people are dieing. He wishes them to be gone as soon as possible. An armed division is ready to cross your borders and take care of them, however, if this army was to move into Luxian lands without your consent, it would give you the wrong image and provoke a war. I am here to ask for your permission.”
The king thought about it for a while.
“Why let Nocternian knights take care of Luxian problems? Certainly our own Luxian knights are able to fight drakes as well.”
“If it were only drakes, then yes. But you suffer from a demon infestation in the western mountains as well. You knights may be able to deal with either drakes, or demons, but they can’t fight on 2 places at the same time.”
“I see. You have learned much from our internal affairs.”
“What I offer you is a chance to keep your lands safe without risking the lives of your subjects. It would also strengthen the ties between our nations.”
“Hmm. What do you think, Liandra?”